Small in the City
- Brand: Unbranded
Description
A young girl journeys through a vast, snowy, sometimes scary city while her mother waits at home. But what seems at first to be the gentle confidence of a loving mother assuring her child that she can make it home through the city and the snow slowly reveals itself to be something else entirely. I had only thus far read Sidewalk Flowers, illustrated by Sydney Smith, which I loved for the artwork, so I was eager to see the first picture book he has both written and illustrated. The art is stunning, the story at least initially about what it is like being small in a big city. Then we see it is a letter to another small someone. Then we realize the child is searching the large, now somewhat desolate city for this someone, and eventually we realize that someone is the child's cat, and then it is suddenly and surprisingly a moving story that you have to read over right away to fully appreciate. Absolutely beautiful. As soon as I saw the city scenes. I immediately thought we were in a Canadian city, and only found out after I finished the book that the author is a Canadian. Author and illustrator Sydney Smith wins second Kate Greenaway Medal for Small in the City (Walker Books)
Kids Book Read Aloud Small in the City - by Sidney Smith
Manjeet Mann is an acclaimed writer and producer of several one-woman shows and episodic plays of personal monologues based in Kent. She was an associate artist with The Birmingham Repertory Theatre and the Soho Writers Lab, wrote a short comedy film for BBC writers’ room and her play, Starting Out, was adapted into a podcast in 2019. The weather steadily worsens. The child almost disappears in the blizzard. Our hearts are in our mouths.From the 2021 CILIP Carnegie Medal shortlist: Run, Rebel by Manjeet Mann (Penguin Random House Children’s) Small in the City is the first book that Sydney Smith—an acclaimed illustrator—both wrote and illustrated himself. According to this interview (well worth a listen), it’s something he’d been thinking about for 12 years—but put off due to things like self-doubt and imposter syndrome (sound familiar, anyone?).
Small in the City — Just Imagine
At first it seems as if she is advising herself, but as the story evolves we realize that she is sending messages of comfort to her missing loved-one. The Medals celebrate outstanding achievement in children’s writing and illustration respectively and are unique in being judged by librarians. Both winning books explore urban landscapes through a child’s eyes, with Chair of Judges Ellen Krajewski describing them as ‘compelling stories told from a child’s viewpoint that deliver a powerful emotional punch.’ The Kate Greenaway Medal is a British literary award for “distinguished illustration in a book for children”. Like the Carnegie medal it was originally administered by the Library Association, and is now conferred by the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals (CILIP). (See also my review of the 2021 Carnegie winner, Look Both Ways by Jason Reynolds.) At a certain point, in the journey of an illustrator, you come to an understanding that you are only as good as the collaboration between the text and image. If the story doesn’t read well you have failed and if all your efforts were to highlight your skill as an artist the project suffers. Your childhood has impacted your work as an illustrator. In what ways? I knew that before I got too carried away I needed to look at other books about snow and the city. But I was terrified that the story I was working on had been written before. Part of me was braced for that crushing discovery.
LoveReading4Kids Says
This is a three-session spelling seed for the book Small in the City by Sydney Smith. Below is the coverage from Appendix 1 of the National Curriculum 2014.
- Fruugo ID: 258392218-563234582
- EAN: 764486781913
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